Various methods have been developed for preventing the unthreading of threaded couplings. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,702,707, and 4,927,187 and 5,348,349 disclose different types of self-locking threaded fasteners wherein male and female threaded fitting components are secured together and locked, sometimes by a locking wire, a lanyard or a tendon.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 465,848, and 2,431,735, and 3,648,749 disclose fastener assemblies with locking devices in the form of a connecting wire or tendon wherein multiple threaded fasteners are locked against rotation by means of a connecting tendon held by adjacent fasteners.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,624,218 of Dauwalter discloses a safety locking assembly for wheel studs that comprises a cap that fits over a lug nut and is secured against rotation by tendons or lanyards anchored between adjacent caps. Each cap is held on its respective lug nut by a press fit, force fit or detent structure. The cap design of Dauwalter works well for its intended application of securing threaded fasteners like lug nuts, which have free ends, against unthreading from a tightened condition, but the inherent design of the safety cap limits its application to wheel studs and similar types of threaded fasteners.
The present invention is directed at an improved collar and tendon safety assembly that simplifies the use of locking tendons or wires to secure commonly used fluid couplings against unthreading for both original and retrofit applications.